Black people are disproportionately affected by demanding work schedules

Busy work schedules have been proven to be detrimental to people’s mental and physical health in the long term.

Wen-Jui Han, a professor at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work, examined “the critical role that employment plays on our health by examining how employment patterns throughout our working lives, based on work schedules, can shape our health at the age of 50. The results were published in the scientific journal PLOS One, People Magazine reported.

The study analyzed data from a longitudinal study of Americans ages 22-49 on their work schedules, health patterns and sleep habits, concluding that those with “stable” employment patterns had higher sleep and health.

“The jobs we have now are making us sick and poor,” Han told NPR. “Work is supposed to allow you to accumulate resources. However, for many people, work does not allow this. They become more and more unhappy as time goes on.”

The study examined the impact of inauspicious working conditions on the health of various groups, making an allowance for aspects corresponding to race, ethnicity, gender, education, immigration status and geography.

Black people with lower levels of education disproportionately reported working more night shifts, having irregular schedules, and sleeping lower than other groups, corresponding to whites or people with higher education.

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Han’s research indicates that the impact of work schedules on a person’s positive and negative well-being can accumulate over time.

Han also reported poor health and sleep outcomes in people who worked regular day shifts early in life and later switched to a “variable” schedule. The professor warned of well-known long-term health effects corresponding to depression, anxiety, obesity and an increased risk of stroke.

The Cleveland Clinic notes that lack of sleep – which may include longer working hours – could cause a variety of short- and long-term health problems, including hypertension and cholesterol, and increase the chance of diseases corresponding to type 2 diabetes.

“Work that should provide resources that help us maintain decent lives is now threatening healthy lives due to growing uncertainty in work arrangements in an increasingly unequal society,” Han told Science Daily. “People in vulnerable social positions (e.g., women, blacks, people with low education) disproportionately bear these health consequences.”